Medina — 13 Versus

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

O YE who believe! take not my foe[1195]
and your foe for friends, shewing them
kindness, although they believe not that truth which hath come to you: they
drive forth the Apostles and yourselves because ye believe in God your Lord!
If ye go forth to fight on my way, and from a desire to please me, and shew
them kindness in private, I well know what ye conceal, and what ye discover!
Whoso doth this hath already gone astray from the even way.

If they meet with you they will prove your foes: hand and tongue will they
put forth for your hurt, and will desire that you become infidels again.

Neither your kindred nor your children shall at all avail you on the day of
the resurrection. A severance between you will it make! and your actions doth
God behold.

A good example had ye in Abraham,[1196]
and in those who followed him, when they
said to their people, "Verily, we are clear of you, and of what ye worship
beside God: we renounce you: and between us and hath hatred and enmity sprung
up for ever, until ye believe in God alone." Yet imitate not the language of
Abraham to his Father, "I will pray for thy forgiveness, but not aught shall
I obtain for thee from God."[1197]
O our Lord! in thee do we trust! to thee do we
turn! to thee we shall come back at the last.

O our Lord! expose us not for trial to the unbelievers, and forgive us: for
thou art the Mighty, the Wise!

A good example had ye in them, for all who hope in God and in the last day.
But let who will turn back, God truly is the Rich, the Praiseworthy!

God will, perhaps, establish good will between yourselves and those of them
whom ye take to be your enemies:[1198]
God is Powerful: and God is Gracious,
Merciful.

God doth not forbid you to deal with kindness and fairness toward those who
have not made war upon you on account of your religion, or driven you forth
from your homes: for God loveth those who act with fairness.>Only doth God
forbid you to make friends of those who, on account of your religion, have
warred against you, and have driven you forth from your homes, and have aided
those who drove you forth: and whoever maketh friends of them are
wrongdoers.

O Believers![1199]
when believing women come over to you as refugees (Mohadjers),
then make TRIAL of them. God best knoweth their faith; but if ye have also
ascertained their faith, let them not go back to the infidels; they are not
lawful for them, nor are the unbelievers lawful for these women. But give
them back what they have spent for their dowers. No crime shall it be in you
to marry them, provided ye give them their dowers. Do not retain any right in
the infidel women, but demand back what you have spent for their dowers, and
let the unbelievers demand back what they have spent for their wives.[1200]
This
is the ordinance of God which He ordaineth among you: and God is Knowing,
Wise.

And if any of your wives escape from you to the Infidels from whom ye
afterwards take any spoil, then give to those whose wives shall have fled
away, the like of what they shall have spent for their dowers; and fear God
in whom ye believe.

O Prophet! when believing women come to thee, and pledge themselves that they
will not associate aught with God, and that they will not steal or commit
adultery, nor kill their children, nor bring scandalous charges,[1201]
nor disobey
thee in what is right, then plight thou thy faith to them, and ask pardon for
them of God: for God is Indulgent, Merciful!

O Believers! enter not into amity with those against whom God is angered;
they despair of the life to come, even as the Infidels despair of the inmates
of the tombs.

[1195]
Haleb (?) Ben Abu Baltaa had informed the Koreisch of an intended surprise
of Mecca on the part of Muhammad, with the view of making terms for his own
family who had been left there. The offence was pardoned, but the revelation
was nevertheless published with the view of preventing similar acts of
treachery in future.

[1196]
Speaking of the representatives of the different religious systems
prevalent in the Roman Empire, as Orpheus, Abraham, Christ, Apollonius of
Tyana, enshrined among the household deities of Alexander Severus, Mr. Milman
remarks (Hist. of Christianity, ii. p. 231) that "It is singular that
Abraham, rather than Moses, was placed at the head of Judaism: it is possible
that the traditionary sanctity which attached to the first parent of the
Jewish people, and of many of the Arab tribes, and which was afterwards
embodied in the Koran, was floating in the East, and would comprehend, as it
were, the opinions, not only of the Jews, but of a much wider circle of the
Syrian natives."